Real Words Without Definition
We're sure about this one.
The Latin name of a group of plants or animals.
The naming system runs on endings, which is why there are so many. -idae is an animal family, -aceae a plant family, -inae a subfamily, -ales an order. achetidae is the crickets, acraeinae is a group of butterflies, agalenidae is the funnel-weaver spiders.
They are capitalised in real use but arrive here in lower case like everything else.
2,849 words · sorted A to Z · each with a line on why it is here
Matches the word itself, not the note beside it. Case does not matter.
| Word, sorted Z to A | What it names |
|---|---|
| streptoneura | division of gastropods with twisted nerve loops |
| striaria | genus of brown algae |
| striariaceae | family of brown algae |
| strobilophyta | division of cone bearing plants |
| stromateidae | family of butterfishes |
| stromatoporidae | family of fossil stromatoporoids |
| stromatoporoidea | order of fossil hydrozoans |
| strophomenacea | superfamily of fossil brachiopods |
| strophomenidae | family of fossil brachiopods |
| sturiones | the sturgeon group of ganoid fishes |
| sturninae | subfamily of starlings |
| stylasteridae | family of hydrocorals |
| stylopidae | family of twisted wing parasites |
| subclamatores | bird division ranked under Clamatores |
| submytilacea | bivalve group ranked under Mytilacea |
| subulicornia | insect group with awl-shaped antennae |
| succinea | genus of amber land snails |
| susuidae | family of Ganges river dolphins |
| syconaria | group of calcareous sponges |
| syconidae | family of calcareous sponges |
| sylvicolidae | family of American wood warblers |
| sylviinae | subfamily of Old World warblers |
| symbranchia | order of eel-like fishes |
| synaptera | group of primitively wingless insects |
| synaptosauria | order of fossil reptiles |
| synarmogoidea | echinoderm group allied to the brittle stars |
| synascidiae | group of compound ascidians |
| synchytriaceae | family of chytrid fungi |
| syncrypta | genus of colonial flagellate algae |
| syndactyli | old ornithological group of birds with joined toes |
| synedra | genus of needle-shaped diatoms |
| synentognathi | order of fishes, needlefishes and flying fishes |
| syngnatha | group of pipefishes and seahorses |
| syngnathi | order of pipefishes |
| synurae | group of golden algae (Synura) |
| tabellariaceae | family of diatoms (Tabellaria) |
| tachardia | genus of lac insects |
| tachardiinae | subfamily of lac insects |
| tachinaria | group of tachinid flies |
| taeniada | group of tapeworms (Taenia) |
| taeniobranchia | group of fishes with band-like gills |
| taeniodonta | order of extinct mammals |
| taeniodontia | the taeniodont mammals |
| taeniodontidae | family of taeniodont mammals |
| taenioglossa | order of gastropods with a ribbon-like radula |
| taetsia | former genus of the ti plant (Cordyline) |
| tagassuidae | family of peccaries |
| talegallinae | subfamily of brush turkeys |
| talegallus | genus of brush turkeys |
| taliera | former genus of fan palms |
| tamaceae | plant family of the black bryony (Tamus) |
| tanystomata | division of long-proboscid flies |
| taonurus | fossil genus of plant-like trace fossils |
| taphria | genus of ground beetles |
| tarentola | genus of wall geckos |
| tarsipedinae | subfamily of honey possums (Tarsipes) |
| tatusiidae | family of armadillos, now Dasypodidae |
| taxeopoda | Cope's order of ungulate mammals |
| tectibranchia | order of opisthobranch gastropods |
| tectibranchiata | order of gastropods with covered gills |
| tectospondyli | group of sharks with tectospondylous vertebrae |
| telanthera | genus of amaranth plants |
| teleia | genus of gelechiid moths |
| teleocephali | Cope's group of teleost fishes |
| tellinacea | superfamily of tellin bivalves |
| telotremata | group of brachiopods |
| tentaculifera | group of tentacle-bearing animals |
| tentaculitidae | family of fossil molluscs (Tentaculites) |
| terebinthaceae | former family of turpentine-yielding trees |
| terminaliaceae | family founded on the genus Terminalia |
| territelae | group of trapdoor and mygalomorph spiders |
| testicardines | order of hinged brachiopods |
| tetrabranchia | group of four-gilled cephalopods |
| tetracoralla | group of rugose (four-rayed) corals |
| tetrapneumona | group of four-lunged spiders |
| tetrapneumones | group of four-lunged spiders |
| tetrastichidae | family of chalcid wasps (Tetrastichus) |
| tetraxonia | group of sponges with four-rayed spicules |
| tetraxonida | group of four-rayed sponges |
| tetrodontidae | family of pufferfishes (Tetraodontidae) |
| tettigidae | family of grouse locusts |
| thalamophora | group of chambered foraminifera |
| thalassochelys | genus of the loggerhead sea turtle |
| thamnium | genus of mosses |
| thamnophilinae | subfamily of antshrikes |
| thecamoebae | group of shelled amoebae |
| thecoidea | class of fossil echinoderms |
| theligonaceae | plant family founded on Theligonum |
| thelodontidae | family of fossil jawless fishes |
| thelphusidae | family of freshwater crabs |
| theophrastaceae | family of tropical American trees and shrubs |
| theriodonta | Theriodontia, mammal-like reptiles |
| theromora | Theromora, a group of mammal-like reptiles |
| theromores | anglicized plural, members of the Theromora |
| theromorpha | Theromorpha, an order of mammal-like reptiles |
| thiobacteria | Thiobacteria, the sulphur bacteria |
| thiobacteriales | order of sulphur bacteria |
| thiospira | Thiospira, a genus of sulphur bacteria |
| thoracostei | Thoracostei, an order of fishes, the sticklebacks |
| thoracostraca | Thoracostraca, a division of crustaceans |
The other lists filed alongside this one.
